Editing Heaphy Track (section)

==Incidents==
The route of the Heaphy Track is subject to high rainfall, and is prone to flooding. Until the 1970s there were significant streams across the track that were not bridged,<ref name="Petyt" />{{rp||page=116|pages=}} leading to the risk of trampers becoming stranded, or being swept away while trying to cross a flooded stream.

There was a fatality of a track worker at Kohaihai Bluff in 1919, but there are no recorded deaths from then until the 1960s.<ref name="Petyt" />{{rp||page=135|pages=}}

In October 1965, a school teacher from Rockville in the Aorere Valley went missing on the Heaphy Track while attempting to travel on his horse from Karamea back to Rockville. Despite several searches, his body was never found.<ref>{{cite news| title=Heaphy Search Fails| url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19641106.2.31| date=6 November 1964| work=[[The Press]] | via=Papers Past| access-date=13 August 2022| archive-date=12 August 2022| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812013740/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19641106.2.31| url-status=live}}</ref> In March 1972, a visitor from the United States, went missing on the climb up from Brown Hut in poor weather when she became separated from her tramping companion. Despite extensive searches, no trace of her was found.<ref>{{cite news|title=Heaphy search broken off|url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19720320.2.4|date=30 March 1972|work=[[The Press]] |via=Papers Past|access-date=13 August 2022|archive-date=12 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812013739/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19720320.2.4|url-status=live}}</ref> In April 1973, a member of a party from the University of Canterbury Tramping Club was swept away while attempting to cross the flooded Cave Creek. His body was never found.<ref>{{cite news |title=Searchers withdraw |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19730424.2.10 |work=[[The Press]] |date=24 April 1973 |via=Papers Past |access-date=13 August 2022 |archive-date=12 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812013741/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19730424.2.10 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the report from the subsequent Coroner's enquiry, the Coroner said: "Only fit and well-equipped people should attempt to walk the Heaphy Track".<ref>{{cite news |title=Heaphy Track only for the fit |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19741125.2.178 |work=[[The Press]] |date=25 November 1974 |via=Papers Past |access-date=13 August 2022 |archive-date=12 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812020948/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19741125.2.178 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Controversies in the 1970s about the proposal for a road through Heaphy Track led to increased interest in the track and a large increase in the number of trampers. On one night, there were 82 staying overnight at the Gouland Downs Hut. Around the same time, four people had to be rescued from the track over a period of only two days: one girl with asthma, another girl with glandular fever, a young girl with exposure and a boy with a broken bone in his foot. There had been continual rain for three days with around {{cvt|4|in}} in one 24 hour period, and the huts had become overcrowded.<ref>{{cite news |title=Heaphy Track casualties |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19740103.2.29 |work=[[The Press]] |date=3 January 1974 |via=Papers Past |access-date=13 August 2022 |archive-date=12 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812013740/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19740103.2.29 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In March 1976, a tramper was swept away while attempting to cross the flooded Weka Creek on the Gouland Downs.<ref>{{cite news |title=Woman lost in creek |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19760325.2.10 |work=[[The Press]] |date=25 March 1976 |via=Papers Past |access-date=13 August 2022 |archive-date=12 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812013742/https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19760325.2.10 |url-status=live }}</ref> Her body was never found.

An unusual incident with a happy ending began on 19 January 1980, when a tramper from Palmerston North became disoriented on the descent from Perry Saddle Hut to the end of the track in poor weather and went missing for almost 30 days. His abandoned campsite at Shakespeare Flat on the upper Aorere River was discovered by searchers but he was not found until 18 February – the final day of planned searches. He had travelled {{cvt|15|km}} upstream when searchers had been expecting he would have moved downstream. He was flown to hospital, and made a good recovery, being discharged in five days.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Hindmarsh |first=Gerard |date=25 August 2017 |title=Longest lost a remarkable survival story |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/our-people/96067389/longest-lost-a-remarkable-survival-story |access-date=12 August 2022 |work=[[Stuff (website)|Stuff]] |language=en |archive-date=12 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220812045000/https://www.stuff.co.nz/nelson-mail/our-people/96067389/longest-lost-a-remarkable-survival-story |url-status=live }}</ref> Only a few weeks later, on 17 March 1980 three young trampers from Auckland died when they were swept off rocks at Crayfish Point, just {{cvt|5|km}} from the end of the track at Kōhaihai.<ref name="Petyt" />{{rp||page=143|pages=}}

In March 1982, a solo tramper from Canterbury went missing on the track. He had wandered off the path and become lost after leaving Perry Saddle Hut on the way south. He was eventually found by search parties after he had spent nine days lost in the bush. There was another large search in April 1988 for a nurse from Auckland who had started on the track on her own from the Karamea end in mid March, and was last seen at Heaphy Hut. She was reported missing when she did not arrive home after the end of her holiday. The route was in poor condition at the time after a period of heavy rain, and rivers were swollen. A large search failed to find any sign of the missing woman.<ref name="Petyt" />{{rp||page=145|pages=}}